Autotroph
by Exotos135
Summary: Lana and Rita go to see a new exhibit at the zoo.


At the zoo of Royal Woods, avid animal lover Lana Loud was visiting the place with her mother, Rita, who held her hand as the plumber took a look around everywhere with pure excitement. So much excitement, in fact, that she tried to break free from her mother's grasp to go see the zoo on her own.

"I know you're excited, Lana, but calm down a little, okay?" Rita spoke, keeping the plumber in place. "We'll get to the new exhibit soon."

"I know, Mom, but I just can't wait!" Lana chirped. "Ever since Lisa explained to me what the word means, and how it's even pronounced, I've been itching to find out about what's an-"

"Atutarph!"

Lana fell silent and turned around to see the source of the sudden call: A certain toddler girl, about Lisa's age actually, looking at her mother as she tried to pronounce the word Lana was about to say. And this same girl-mother duo were walking towards Rita and Lana.

"Sweetie, we've already talked about this: "Autotroph" is a tough word to say, you don't have to try say it right now," the girl's mother told her daughter. "Let's focus on heading to the exhibit, okay?"

"But I wanna say it now!"

"I know you do, sweetie, but-" and then Darcy's Mother spotted Rita. "Hold the freaking phone, Rita Loud?!"

Rita noticed Darcy's mother soon afterwards. "Daisy Homandollar?!"

The pair walked towards each other, dragging their daughters with them until they were close to each other. And while the women talked with each other about a ton of stuff, the girls looked at each other silently and awkwardly, until Lana broke the ice:

"Hi. I heard the zoo got a new exhibit, and I came here to check it out."

And then, Lana turned to the toddler. "Are you here for the same reason?"

"Yeah, more or less," Darcy answered, twiddling her fingers as she explained, "I like the zoo, it's a pretty neat place where I can see lots of animals, and when I heard of this "Atotrup" thingie, I wanted to see it myself!"

And then she tilted her head, "What's an "Atotrup" by the way?"

"Autotroph, and trust me, I know that's a hard word to say," Lana folded her arms and shook her head. "I only wish I knew if I should be impressed or confused as to how my younger sister can say it like it's nobody's business. Anyway, I think they're animals or something like it, that can create their own food."

"That's possible?" Darcy inquired.

"Only one way to find out, sweetie," Darcy's Mother spoke as she grabbed her daughter's hand, then turned to Lana. "Would you like to come with us... um...?"

"My name's Lana, and yeah, I'm heading there anyway," Lana rubbed her hands together. "I can't wait to see this thing for myself."

 ** _At the Exhibit..._**

Lana, Rita, Darcy, and Darcy's Mother stood along the mob of people looking at the venus flytrap exhibit, where they watched as a random fly rested on the open "mouth" of the plant, before it closed it and "swallowed" the fly whole, opening it's mouth once more to repeat the process later.

"Venus flytraps are well known for their primary method of feeding: They trap a fly using the hair on their tongue, then crush the insect inside, and they gather nutrients from that. However, they primarily gain food from sunlight, so in case no flies are caught, the plant can still gain some nutrients," Lana read out loud, with Darcy just staring at the plumber all the while. "I think the latter part of the description is why it has it's moniker as an-"

"I wanna try say it!" Darcy chirped.

Lana paused and smiled, "Go ahead."

And so, Darcy tried to say, "Auta... autotru... atro ...atru...atrotopie?"

Lana couldn't help but smile and slightly chuckle at the girl's attempts at saying the word. And when Darcy looked like she was about to whine about the word, she explained the correct term:

"Autotroph."

"I still think that sounds like something related to cars," Darcy spoke, then she got an idea. "Hey, do you think cars will count as atutophas eventually?"

"Huh, that's a possibility I didn't even consider," Lana scratched her chin. "But, yeah, that's something that could happen, I guess."

And then, Rita and Darcy's Mother took the girls to a nemch close to the pond, and the exhibit, before the former said, "Lana, Daisy and I have to talk about something, could you and Darcy stay still for a moment?"

Lana nodded. "Sure, in fact-"

The tomboy took out a bag of brea crumbs from her back. "We can feed the ducks while you're talking."

Rita gave her daughter a thumbs up, then walked with Daisy to talk, with the women sharing a dialogue before leaving:

"Where did your daughter get that bag?"

"Our family's got all sorts of tricks up our sleeves."

Once the women were out of sight, Lana turned to Darcy. "Wanna feed the ducks with me, Darcy?"

Darcy nodded excitedly, snatched the bag and ran to the pond as fast as she could, with Lana only noticing by the time Darcy stood inches away from the pond.

"Hi duckies!" Darcy got ready to throw the bag, with Lana noticing and running after her. "Your friend Darcy brought you some food!"

"Whoa, hold it there, Darcy," Lana said, snatching the bag before Darcy could throw it into the water. "You're supposed to grab some crumbs inside the bag, and throw it into the water so the ducks can eat it. You don't need to throw the whole bag."

"But wouldn't giving the ducks the bag be an easier way to do it?" Darcy asked.

"No, that wouldn't make things any easier." Lana shook her head, then reached for the bag. "Watch me, alright?"

The blonde tomboy turned to the ducks, took out some crumbs, and threw them to the water. She and Darcy stood silently as the ducks promptly ate the crumbs.

"Okay, now you try it, Darcy."

Darcy took the bag, glanced at Lana, earning a reassuring nod from the plumber, then repeated what Lana did: she grabbed some bread crumbs, threw them at the ducks, and watched as they ate it.

"I did it, the duckies are eating the crumbs!" Darcy chirped, clapping happily as Lana took the bag back. "I think they liked them, too!"

"Yeah, they did." Lana remarked.

Lana looked at the ducks, remaining silent to enjoy the peaceful moment. It was a nice change of pace to be around a toddler that neither corrected your mistakes at every opportunity, or acted like a party pooper.

Yeah, Lisa could learn one or two things from Darcy about socializing. If she could say so herself, Darcy could probably help Lisa break out of her stoic shell.

Just then, however, Lana put the pieces together and thought of something.

"Are you friends with Lisa Loud?" Lana inquired, getting Darcy's attention. "I know, odd thing to ask out of nowhere, but-"

Darcy blinked once, then tilted her head. "Yes, I'm her friend."

Lana smiled. "I'm one of her older sisters, Lana."

Darcy smiled in return, then stated with an innocent tone, "She's never mentioned you before."

"I'm not surprised, she's mostly focused on science, experiments, and more science, with little time for family or friends," Lana sighed and shook her head. "Although, I've heard that's started to change thanks to you."

"Me?" Darcy asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Yeah, before she met you, Lisa didn't even pay attention to the social part of life, and she preferred to stay alone all day in her lab, working on her experiments," Lana brushed Darcy's hair with a pleased smile. "But, ever since you became her first friend, she's been trying to be more sociable. She's had a rocky start, yes, but she's still trying."

Darcy smiled at Lana. Prompting the plumber to say:

"And I think that's thanks to you."

The brunette toddler blushed and looked elsewhere, giggling as Lana stood up and formed a pleased smile on her lips. Then, shortly afterward, Darcy twiddled her fingers and asked:

"Can I be friends with your other sisters, too?"

Lana flinched, recognizing the taxing task at hand, and she crouched back down and brushed Darcy's hair with a nervous smile. "For now, let's just focus on you helping Lisa by being her friend-"

Darcy tilted her head. "And yours too, right?"

Lana smiled, and silently nodded, with Darcy suddenly hugging her afterwards.

"Yay! I got a new friend!" Darcy chirped with a giggle.

Once the shock wore off, Lana returned the hug and said, "Yes, yes you did."

"We're back girls!"

Darcy and Lana separated and turned to see Rita and Daisy walking towards them.

"We finished talking about certain stuff, so now we can continue our trip through the zoo," Rita said, only to somberly add, "But, Daisy and Darcy have to go see something elsewhere."

"I understand," Lana extended her hand towards Darcy, who shook her hand in response. "See you some other time, Darcy."

The toddler then extended her hand, and made the scissors gesture. "Scissors beat paper! I win!"

"Hey, that's not..." Lana sighed. "Okay, you won this time, Darcy Homandollar, but don't think I'll go easy on you next time!"

The mothers laughed alongside their daughters before grabbing their hands and going off their separate ways.

And so Lana and Darcy separated, hoping that they'd get to meet each other again. Sometime soon.


End file.
